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All children deserve to have access to a quality education. They deserve to feel safe and supported in a place that exists to prepare them for their futures. Yet, for Black youth and other youth of color, this is far from the reality. Every day, Black children and other youth of color, some as young as six are being pushed out of classrooms and schools because of deep racial profiling. Across the country, Black high school students are twice as likely to be suspended as white students. In Oakland, while Black youth made up 26 percent of the Oakland Unified School District’s enrollment, they represented 73 percent of arrests. This vicious cycle continues to fuel pathways to prison and confinement, where Black youth are consistently over-represented, which creates additional barriers for our young people to realize and achieve their full potential.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Youth Power Fund is pleased to announce a total of $870,000 in grants to 29 youth organizing groups in Northern California. The fund was launched in 2019 by foundations and donors that recognize the importance of youth organizing and its role in sustaining a vibrant, inclusive society. To this end, the fund invests in young people of color, particularly young Black and Indigenous leaders, who are creating the world they want to live in by reimagining and transforming communities and systems.

The Youth Power Fund (YPF) is excited to announce grants to 32 youth organizing groups in Northern California to collectively cultivate a powerful youth organizing ecosystem with shared strategies that engage more young people, expand power, and support transformative youth organizing practices in the field.

NCG's Sarah Frankfurth chatted with Pui Ling Tam and Chrissy Sa about the Fund and lessons learned. tam Pui Ling Tam led the initial funder organizing to launch the Generational Recovery Fund, and Chrissy Sa and Pui Ling Tam served as Advisory Group Members throughout the life of the Fund. Watch and read more about the experience of leaders and youth participants from the fund below. 

Investing in youth to successfully navigate their recovery from the harms of COVID-19 is a key principle of NCG’s Equitable Recovery Framework. This summer, Northern California Grantmakers began supporting the work of the Generational Recovery Fund (GRF), a pooled fund dedicated to the recovery of Bay Area youth, with a focus on supporting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color youth. 

To truly strengthen our democracy for the long-term, funders need to hear directly from young people and youth organizing staff and follow their lead to deeply invest in the ecosystem that builds political home and collective agency for us.